Foldable wall assembly



Dec. 6, 1966 R F, HEUER, JR 3,289,740

FOLDABLE WALL ASSEMBLY Filed Nov. 6, 1964 wim@ United States Patent O 3,289,740 FULDABLE WALL ASSEMBLY Richard F. Heier, Jr., Lansing, Ill., assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 6, 1964., Ser. No. 409,400 3 Claims. (Cl. 160-188) The present invention relates to a foldable wall assembly. More particularly, the invention is directed to a foldable Wall assembly which is readily collapsible for storage and which is particularly useful where intermittent closure is desired.

Among the industrial applications for my foldable wall assembly, include furnace buildings and other structures where great amounts of heat tend to accumulate and adversely affect working conditions of the personnel. In industrial sites Awhere such conditions occur, it is frequently desirable to maintain at least one side of the building open to the atmosphere, i.e. without at least one side wall, in order to provide adequate ventilation during warm months of the year. In the colder weather, it is desirable to enclose the opened side of the building with a temporary wall. Instead of building temporary walls which must be dismantled, this invention provides a foldable wall assembly which is self-storing when folded into a final resting position. The Wall can be easily unfolded for use with a minimum of effort and inconvenience, and the ease with which it may be :raised or lowered makes it suitable for use as adoor.

A representative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIGURE l is a front elevational View of the foldable wall assembly, and

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the wall assembly shown in FIGURE 1 taken along line 2 2 in FIGURE l.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 2, the foldable wall assembly includes a fixed upper panel 12 and a plurality of movable or foldable lower panels. In the extended position, the foldable panels d-epend seriatim from panel 12 and the panels are hingedly connected, i.e. pivotally attached, at their upper edge to the next :succeeding upper adjacent panel. Fixed panel 12 is inclined to facilitate storing the movable panels of the wall structure as described below. Middle panel 14 is hinged to fixed inclined panel 12 and lower panel 16 at the adjacent edges thereof. In the preferred embodiment, the panels are hinged with a plurality of pipe sleeves 18 and 20 which are attached to the bottom edge of panels 12 and 14 and to the upper edge of panels 14 and 16 respectively. In the assembly, each of pipe sleeves 18 ts cooperatively between correspondingly spaced apart pipe sleeves 20 and hinge pins 22 and 22a are inserted longitudinally through the pipe sleeves providing a Ahinge attachment between panels 14 and 16 which allows the panels to rotate. If desired, the pipe sleeves can be attached to the panels with an intermediate flanged member 21 which is shown at the attachment of panels 12 and 14. A pipe or bar 19 may be attached to the bottom of panel 16 to provide greater rigidity thereto.

As best seen in FIGURE 2, flexible lifting means, such as a lifting cable 24 with one end attached to a U-bolt 26 welded to panel 16 extends upwardly and over a rotatable cable support such as sheave wheel 28; the sheave wheel is mounted in a housing 3ft attached to overhead superstructure 36 of the building. The flexible lifting means may be a strap, chain, cable, rope or the like. It is important that the cable be attached to the lower panel 16 in such a way that the upward pull by the cable will cause the panel to be raised and enable all movable panels to pivot about the hinge at the lower end of fixed inclined panel 12. This is accomplished in the embodiment il- `lustrated by attaching cable 2d to a U-bolt which is slight- 3,289,740?" Patented Dec. 6, 1966 ly displaced from the panel 16. After passing over the sheave, the cable is attached t-o a brake-equipped motoroperated winch which may be disposed in any suitable location. The sheave housing 30 hangs freely from pin 31 in bracket 32 which is welded or otherwise fixedly attached to a roof purlin 34 of the superstructure 36.

To retract or fold the wall assembly 10 from its lowered, i.e. extended, pos-ition shown in FIGURE 1, it is only necessary to pull cable 24 by winding with a winch 40 driven by reversible motor 42 which ycauses a lifting strain to develop in the cable and in turn exerts a pull on wall 1t). The upward traveling cable 24 causes panel 14 to rotate about hinge pins 22 located at the bottom of panel 12 and gravity causes panel 16 to rotate about hinge pins 22a at the bottom of panel 14 thereby causing panels 14 and 16 to rotate upwardly through the phantom (dotted outline) positions A, B and C. The winch motor is shut off as the two panels reach an upright vertical position `between -B and C, thereby releasing the ension on cable 24 and allowing the momentum of the two panels, caused by `the centrifugal rotation thereof, to carry the two panels beyond the vertical position to nal resting position C where the panels are folded with adjacent and alternate edges abutting. In the resting position, the panels can be wired or otherwise secured and stored for as long as desired. It is noted that the position of the sheave above the foldable wall structure is important in retracting the lwall to enable the momentum of the movable panels to bring them into a final resting position. If the sheave is positioned too far off the center line of the depending panels in the unfolded wall, the movable panels can not be brought into a final position of rest by the centrifugal rotation alone. For this purpose, the sheave should be positioned no further from the center line than the height of the movable panels. For best results, the sheave should be attached to the superstructure at a position only slightly displaced from the center lineof the extended depending panels.

The foldable wall panels are withdrawn from fixed upper panel 12 and safely lowered into position (after unsecuring the stored panels) by starting the winch motor causing cable 24 to pull panels 14 and 16 away from fixed panel 12 and to rotate toward position B shown in FIGURE 2. As the two panels reach the vertical position, the motor is again shut `off allowing the panels Ito swing past the center line by their own momentum after which the motor brake 44 can be used to ycontrollably lower the panels safely through positions B and A into the final lowered position shown in FIGURE l.

Among the advantages of the foldable wall structure described above, is `that it may be set up yor retracted in a very short time with a minimum of effort. It is considerably less expensive to use than the temporary wall structures which must be constructed and dismantled. Another distinct advantage of the invention is its builtin self-storing feat-ure which permits it to be stored at the building site yet is in a position to be erected quickly.

The folding wall structure while preferably made of steel can also be made of :other suitable structural materials or combinations of materials. The wall and the components can be made in various sizes to suit the needs of the particular application. Other movable panel-supporting structures can be used in lieu of fixed upper panel 12 to support vthe movable panels both in the unfolded and storage positions. Two or more foldable wall assemblies can be used to accommodate `a large opening, and the same fixed upper panel or panel-supporting structure can be used for all of the wall assemblies.

I claim:

1. A foldable wall assembly comprising a fixed, iwall panel-supporting struc-ture, a plurality of foldable wall panels adapted to depend seriatim from the lower edge of `said xed panel-supporting structure, said xed wall panel-supporting structure being inclined upwardly and rearwardly at an acute angle to a vertical plane through the foldable wall panels when in the unfolded position, said foldable wall panels being piv-otally attached at their upper edge to the next succeeding upper adjacent panel and lthe uppermost of said panels being pivotally attached at its upper edge to the panel-supporting structure, means for raising said pivotally att-ached foldable panels so that said panels fold in face to face relationship and come to a position of rest on said inclined xed panel-supporting structure 'by a force caused by centrifugal rotation of said panels about the lower edge of said panel-supportting structure and means to Withdraw and to controllably lower said pivotally attached foldable panels.

2. A foldable wall assembly for use in buildings hav ing an overhead superstructure comprising a iixed upper wall panel, two movable wall panels adapted to depend seriatim from said fixed upper panel, said movable panels `being hingedly connected together and the uppermost of said movable panels vbeing hingedly connected at its upper edge to the lower edge of said fixed upper panel, said xed upper panel being inclined upwardly and rearwardly at an acute angle to a vertical plane through the movable wall panels when in the unfolded position, flexible lifting means for lifting said movable panels, attachment means for securing said flexible lifting means to the lowermost movable panel, said attachment means 'being slightly displaced from the center line of said unfolded movable wall panels, a rotatable cable support over which said flexible lifting means passes secured t0 said overhead superstructure, means for pulling said flexible lifting means to raise said movable panels from their extended unfolded position and cause said panels to fold and come to rest on said inclined upper panel by a force caused by centrifugal :rotation of said panels `about the lower edge of said upper inclined panel and means to controllably lower said flexible lifting means to cause said movable panels to unfold.

3. A foldable wall assembly according to claim 2 wherein said means for pulling and controllably lowering said ilexible lifting means comprise a reversible motor 'and winch and a brake.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,308,955 7/1919 Koskinen 160-191 1,537,300 5/1925 Haines. 2,069,966 2/1937 Morgan 160-213 X 2,113,291 4/1938 Clark et al. 160-189 2,198,572 4/1940 Cross 160--213 X 3,024,838 3/1962 Egleston et al. 160-193 HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

D. L. TAYLOR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A FOLDABLE WALL ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A FIXED, WALL PANEL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, A PLURALITY OF FOLDABLE WALL PANELS ADAPTED TO DEPEND SERIATIM FROM THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID FIXED PANEL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, SAID FIXED WALL PANEL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE BEING INCLINED UPWARDLY AND REARWARDLY AT AN ACUTE ANGLE TO A VERTICAL PLANE THROUGH THE FOLDABLE WALL PANELS WHEN IS THE UNFOLDED POSITION, SAID FOLDABLE WALL PANELS BEING PIVOTALLY ATTACHED AT THEIR UPPER EDGE TO THE NEXT SUCCEEDING UPPER ADJACENT PANEL AND THE UPPERMOST OF SAID PANELS BEING PIVOTALLY ATTACHED AT ITS UPPER EDGE TO THE PANEL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, MEANS FOR RAISING SAID PIVOTALLY ATTACHED FOLDABLE PANELS SO THAT SAID PANELS FOLD IN FACE TO FACE RELATIONSHIP AND COME TO A POSITION OF REST ON SAID INCLINED FIXED PANELS-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE BY A FORCE CAUSED BY CENTRIFUGAL ROTATION OF SAID PANELS ABOUT THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID PANEL-SUPPORTING STRUCTURE AND MEANS TO WITHDRAW AND TO CONTROLLABLY LOWER SAID PIVOTALLY ATTACHED FOLDABLE PANELS. 